Bootstrapper's Paradise

Bootstrapper's Paradise

By Sean BoyceBusinessEntrepreneurshipTechnology
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Bootstrapper's Paradise episodes

  • Product Flexibility as a Growth Strategy with Agora’s SVP of Marketing Virginia Liu

     Virginia is the SVP of Marketing and Ecosystems at Agora. On this episode of Product Launch, Sean and Virginia cover 

    • How a platform as a service product is unique when compared with traditional SaaS products
    • How the demand for the Agora service has increased due to the pandemic
    • The creative applications Agora’s customers have developed with access to their tools and services
    • How to organize data and feedback from users to make your product better as a platform as a service company

      • Resources: 

      • Agora on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agora-lab-inc/
      • Agora on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgoraIO

        • Connecting:

        Connect with Virginia in LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginia-liu-3705004/



        Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


        Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

        Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

        22 min
      • Pivoting your Product Business with Daniel Senyard from Shep

        Daniel Senyard who is the Co-founder and CEO of Shep. On this episode of Product Launch, Daniel and Sean cover

        • The Shep value proposition
        • How Shep pivoted due to industry impact due to the pandemic
        • Framing you product as a hypothesis
        • Distinguishing between adjustments and pivots for your product
        • Pivoting from SMB to enterprise as a target market

          • Resources:

          • The Start-Up J Curve, by Howard Love - https://www.amazon.com/Start-Up-Curve-Steps-Entrepreneurial-Success/dp/162634292X
          • Obviously Awesome, by April Dunford - https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005
          • Shep Travel - https://sheptravel.com/
          • Get Shep - https://getshep.io/

            • Connecting with Daniel:

            • Connect with Daniel over Email at [email protected]

              • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


              Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

              Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

              26 min
            • Sales as the Key to Success for your Product Business with Lisa Peskin

              Lisa is the Founder and CEO of Business Development University or BDU. On this episode of Product Launch, Lisa and Sean cover 

              • The importance of passion and authenticity in communicating your value proposition to prospects
              • They 3 keys to business development and sales 
              • Folding 30/60/90 day game plans into your annual plan
              • Building your prospecting process to deliver effective results
              • Why your initial conversations need to start with their problems (and not your solutions)
              • Putting together the pieces to tell an effective sales story
              • Why not everything can be done online

                • Resources:

                • Business Development University - https://businessdevelopmentuniversity.com/
                • BDU's Prospect Visit Checklist - https://businessdevelopmentuniversity.com/bdu-prospect-visit-checklist-pdf/
                • Fanatical Prospecting, by Jeb Blount - https://www.amazon.com/Fanatical-Prospecting-Conversations-Leveraging-Telephone-ebook/dp/B01617VD3I

                  • Connecting with Lisa:

                  • Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisapeskin/

                    • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                    Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                    Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                    27 min
                  • Better Benefits with Lluna’s Jessica Podgajny

                    Jess Podgajny has spent her career in client service and management consulting, focused on the people side of projects. She is now the Founder and CEO of LLUNA a B2B platform that enables companies to design, manage, and analyze personalized employment arrangements. On this episode of the Product Launch podcast, Jess and Sean cover 

                    • The past, present, and future of LLuna 
                    • What Lluna offers their clients (that they can’t get elsewhere)
                    • The growing demand for flexibility
                    • The Lluna prototype build strategy through the use of ‘no-code’ tools
                    • The Lluna team’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy
                      • Tight target market, build momentum and social proof to take to the bigger organizations

                        • Resources: 

                        • Tools - Bubble - https://bubble.io/
                        • The Mom Test - http://momtestbook.com

                          • Connecting with Jess

                          • https://lluna.io/ - Reach out to Jess to talk about personalized employer arrangements 
                          • Connect with Jess over email [email protected]



                            • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                            Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                            Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                            33 min
                          • The Hyper-Automation Movement with Nividous’s Chris Hawn

                            Chris Hawn is the Managing Director at Nvidous.  Chris’s background includes finance, technology and now hyper automation as he’s leading the charge in growth and scaling the business in the US. This week's topic is hyper-automation, and Sean and Chris specifically cover\

                            • Hyper-automation vs Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
                            • How companies interact with their software bot
                            • Use cases for the technology
                            • Industry applications for hyper-automation
                            • Overcoming objections to hyper-automation
                            • What the future of automation means for jobs done by people

                              • Resources:

                              • Nividious Website: https://nividous.com/

                                • Connecting with Chris:

                                • Connect with Chris over email: [email protected]
                                • Connect with Christ over LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-hawn-b222a582/

                                  • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                  Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                  Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                  28 min
                                • Product Positioning with Obviously Awesome Author April Dunford

                                  April Dunford is the author of Obviously Awesome which is all about product positioning.  Prior to that April was the VP of Marketing for 7 successful startups. This week, April and Sean cover 

                                  • What is product positioning and how it can help you
                                  • "Jobs to be done" and the milkshake story
                                  • Integrating product positioning in a jobs to be done framework
                                  • The importance of competitive alternatives when it comes to positioning
                                  • Testing your positioning thesis and how to refine it based on your traction
                                  • April’s real-world example of the power of positioning
                                  • Finding the examples of best-fit customer use cases

                                    • Resources: 

                                    • April's book, Obviously Awesome: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/45166937-obviously-awesome

                                      • Connecting with April:

                                      • Connect with April on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aprildunford?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
                                        • Connect with April on her website: https://www.aprildunford.com/
                                        • Connect with April over email: [email protected]

                                          • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                          Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                          Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                          32 min
                                        • Differentiating Yourself in a Sea of Competition with Habitat Logistics Trip O’Dell

                                          Trip’s experience and product portfolio is diverse. It includes consumer hardware, software, cloud services, enterprise software, among others at solving complex problems at scale. Trip's grounded product experience combines a track record for envisioning, defining and shipping new ideas, products and technologies resulting in new products, services, intellectual property and driving business outcomes at companies like Amazon, MSFT and Adobe. He is the new CXO at the Y-combinator company Habitat in Philadelphia which deals with last mile delivery technology. On this week's episode of Product Launch, Sean and Trip discuss

                                          • What is a CXO (Chief Experience Officers) role all about
                                          • Why success is all about people, product, and process
                                          • East vs West coast approaches to building a tech company 
                                          • The importance of a humanistic, experimental, future based mindset 
                                          • “People don’t buy a drill, they buy a repeatable quarter inch hole”
                                          • Developing a customer obsession at your organization
                                          • The importance of failure

                                            • Resources:

                                            • Trade Off, by Kevin Maney: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6664826-trade-off
                                            • Brave New Workforce Podcast: https://www.thebraveworkforce.com/

                                              • Connecting with Trip

                                              • Connect with Trip through Twitter: https://twitter.com/tripodell?lang=en
                                              • Connect with Trip over Email: [email protected]



                                                • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                                Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                                Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                                36 min
                                              • Industry Expertise as an Accelerator for your Product Career with Hazelcast’s David Brimley

                                                Hazelcast delivers the in-memory computing platform that empowers Global 2000 enterprises to achieve ultra-fast application performance - at any scale. Built for low-latency data processing, Hazelcast’s cloud-native in-memory data store and event stream processing software technologies are trusted by leading companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Charter Communications, Ellie Mae and National Australia Bank to accelerate data-centric applications. On this weeks episode of the Product Launch podcast, Sean and David cover 

                                                • Why industry subject matter expertise matters and how it differentiate you as a product professional
                                                • The advantages of building a product for yourself 
                                                • How to keep your industry subject matter expertise to be better product professional
                                                • Going from a siloed world of being an individual contributor to more of a leadership role for the organization and various functional groups
                                                • Why product professionals need to maintain a healthy network of industry professionals
                                                • Getting to know your customers personally so they will feel comfortable opening up to you so you can help them

                                                  • Resources:

                                                  • Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24724602-flash-boys
                                                  • Automate This, by Christopher Steiner - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542772-automate-this
                                                  • Competing Against Luck, by Clayton M. Christensen - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28820024-competing-against-luck
                                                  • Playing to Win, by A.G. Lafley - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13586928-playing-to-win
                                                  • How to Lead in Product Management, by Roman Pichler - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13586928-playing-to-win
                                                  • Hazelcast Websites - hazelcast.org , hazelcast.com

                                                    • Connecting with David:

                                                    • Connect with David on Twitter - https://twitter.com/dbrimley?lang=en

                                                      • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                                      Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                                      Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                                      34 min
                                                    • Embracing the Pivot with Rhino Review’s Chelsea Craig

                                                      Chelsea is the founder of Rhino Reviews and they work with businesses to protect their online reputation by growing and leveraging their online customer reviews. They offer the only fully managed review generation and reputation management program on the market. Every client receives a unique strategy based on their current reputation, where they wish to go, and headwinds they might encounter. They work to improve both the external as well as internal reputation and take businesses from a reactive to a proactive position. On this episode, Sean and Chelsea cover

                                                      • The success story behind Rhino Review and embracing the concept of the pivot
                                                      • How measuring the customer experience helped Chelsea realize why Rhino was stuck
                                                      • How leveling up their pricing actually helped them refine their value proposition
                                                      • How your sales and go-to-market strategy needs to shift when you decide to pivot
                                                      • How a lower price for your product or service can actually hurt your business
                                                      • Chelsea’s philosophy on adding new services (or features) to their list of offerings

                                                        • Resources:

                                                        • Sandler Sales Training - https://www.thetrainingcenter.sandler.com/about
                                                        • Rhino Reviews LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhino-reviews/?viewAsMember=true
                                                        • Rhino Reviews Blog - https://rhino-reviews.com/blog-2-online-reviews-for-small-business/

                                                          • Connecting with Chelsea:

                                                          • Rhino Reviews website - https://rhino-reviews.com/
                                                          • Connect with Chelsea over email - [email protected]

                                                            • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                                            Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                                            Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                                            26 min
                                                          • Building Data-Driven Products with Stephen Sklarew

                                                            Stephen is a product and technology executive with extensive experience building and growing companies both large and small.  He is also the CEO of Synaptiq.  Synaptiq provides strategic AI and data science services to information, technology, and product officers. On this week's episode, Sean and Stephen discuss 

                                                            • “There’s nothing more frustration than building software that no one will use”
                                                            • Why software is more about understanding your customer than technology
                                                            • How to be a conservative entrepreneur when it comes to financial risk
                                                            • Why selling services is a great way to identify product opportunities
                                                            • “It’s not worth getting others people’s money until you’ve proven your business model”
                                                            • What it means to build a data-driven product
                                                            • How to know when you have a product worth building
                                                            • The critical importance of testing your value proposition early and often

                                                              • Resources:

                                                              • Good to Great, by James C. Collins - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76865.Good_to_Great
                                                              • Traction, by Gino Wickman - https://www.eosworldwide.com/traction-book
                                                              • Scaling Up, by Verne Harnish - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22212880-scaling-up
                                                              • 3HAG Way, by Shannon Byrne Susko - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22212880-scaling-up
                                                              • Synaptiq Website - https://www.synaptiq.ai/

                                                                • Connecting with Stephen:

                                                                • Connect with Stephen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sklarew/
                                                                • Connect with Stephen over Email - [email protected]

                                                                  • Free Email Course - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/course


                                                                  Private Coaching - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/coaching

                                                                  Bootstrapper's Paradise - https://bootstrappersparadise.com/

                                                                  30 min

                                                                About Bootstrapper's Paradise

                                                                From the publisher's feed

                                                                Quick, actionable episodes for aspiring SaaS founders who want to build on their own terms. No fluff, no theory, just real strategies from a serial bootstrapper who's done it multiple times.